


Newborn Stars

by GrimmVertigo



Series: Artist!AU [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Artist!Noctis, Fluff, M/M, Noctis gets his big break, Nyx is an enabling asshole, model!Nyx
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 20:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11493936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrimmVertigo/pseuds/GrimmVertigo
Summary: An extension/continuation of "Real-Life Michelangelo".Noctis gets famous by using Nyx's body for his own personal gains.(Nyx encouraged it so it's fine, right?)





	Newborn Stars

Noctis got his big break as an artist eight months into dating Nyx. 

The first piece of Nyx recreating Michelangelo's _David_ was only the beginning. He aced the final and his professor had liked it so much she'd asked Noct if she could put it in the university's art show. He had tentatively agreed, but only if it wasn't displayed under his name; he'd learned from his father's popularity in the military that attention on a massive scale wasn't something he wanted. His professor had kindly agreed to honor his wishes and took the drawing to be framed. 

Two days before the art show, Noctis got an email from his professor asking if there was something he'd like to be known as instead of just 'Anonymous', like a pen-name or something else. At a loss for ideas, he'd shown Nyx the email and asked his opinion. Nyx, standing behind Noctis as he sat at his desk, wrapped toned arms around his shoulders and pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

"Star of Lucis" was Nyx's suggestion after a few moments of silence. 

Noctis emailed his response with a smirk, then leaned back in the chair to give Nyx a proper kiss. 

Two weeks later, Noctis received another email from his professor, this one singing praises of his work. It had attracted the eyes of several gallery owners who were interested in showing the piece, and a couple who were interested in buying it outright. Noctis said he'd think on it and asked that the credentials of the gallery owners be forwarded to him. 

The problem with fame was that it came unexpectedly, and had no mercy. Nyx hated the idea of being famous as much as Noctis did, but was very enthusiastic about his art getting noticed. Noctis didn't care as much, but after some insistence (and presenting the idea that he could make a lot of money off of his work), the artist decided to give it a shot. But he would make a different piece to show off, one that didn't make it obvious who the model was, one that didn't have his name tied to it.

Nyx was very receptive of the idea of posing for another drawing and suggested they get started immediately. Noctis just laughed and indulged him.

Dozens of poses were attempted over the course of a few days, but Noctis just wasn't feeling any of them. Nyx had, at one point, jokingly told Noct to "paint me like one of your French girls" and splayed out on the couch in the most obscenely seductive pose he could muster. One arm was thrown back behind his head, the other bent at an angle with his hand reaching up to tangle in his hair. Noctis had laughed and drawn it anyways. 

Truth be told, no matter how many poses they tried over the course of a week, Noctis didn't like any of them. They were too... Posed; they felt fake and just generally wrong. It was only one night, two weeks later when Noctis was lying in bed unable to sleep, that the idea struck him. Maybe he had to sketch Nyx when he wasn't paying attention – when he wasn't trying so hard. So he grabbed the sketchbook that was always kept on his nightstand and started drawing. 

Nyx, at that moment, didn't look sexy as much as he did cute. He was on his belly, head resting on the mattress instead of a pillow with his hair spread out everywhere in a disheveled mess. The sheets only covered him from the waist down but he had part of them pulled up his face, gripped in his hand and hiding his more distinguishable facial features. Noctis sketched him from three different angles before he slid back into bed. 

The next instance was when Nyx was cooking dinner a couple of days later. Noctis sat at the bar, sketching Nyx in only sleep pants and an apron as he stirred something in a pot. With Nyx facing the stove, he made sure to get all of the muscles in his back and shoulders right. 

It continued like this for almost a month. Noctis would catch Nyx doing something and would secretly draw up some poses while he wasn't looking – on the couch immersed in a new book, or on the balcony looking out over the city with a beer in hand. He'd been caught doing yoga stretches once or twice, dancing another time. Dancing had been fun – Noct had gotten out some colored pencils and markers and went crazy with color where he would normally have stuck with black and white.

A month and a couple weeks after the university art show, Noctis had three new pieces done. One was the first sketch he'd gotten of Nyx asleep, done in monochromatic greys and blues. Another, his favorite, was one of the dance poses with Nyx rolling his hips, arms bent and in the air by his head with seductive pinks, reds and bits of violet. The last was Nyx on the couch, engrossed in a book with a beer in hand, accented by soft greens and browns. All three depicted Nyx mostly nude; all three obscured his face.

Noctis submitted them all at once to a gallery in the more upscale part of Insomnia under the name "Star of Lucis". He paid his friend Prompto to deliver them, because Prompto didn't mind the attention as much, being a photographer, and he trusted the blonde to be discrete. 

(Prompto came back with the story of how much the gallery owner gushed over the pieces and kept showering the blonde with complements, despite his insistence that he wasn't actually the artist, just the delivery boy. Nyx cackled from his spot on the sofa while Noct winced, apologized for the trouble, and firmly demanded that Prompto stay for dinner to make up for it. Prompto said it was no big deal, but stayed anyways.) 

It was another two weeks before Noctis heard anything about his exhibit. Nyx came home from a modeling gig one day and shoved a gallery newspaper in Noct's face.

His pieces were on the front page with the headline _"Newcomer 'Star of Lucis' Surprises Insomnia's Art World"_. Nyx couldn't stop grinning, slightly breathless from dashing up ten flights of stairs. Noctis stared at the paper with look of disbelief on his pale features. The article itself was full of technical jargon praising his use of colors, techniques, and lines of motion with a couple existential questions thrown in, but Noct was too busy staring at the newsprint-quality photo of his art hanging on a gallery wall to pay any attention to tiny black words. It was hard to wrap his head around the idea that people loved his art enough to put it on the front page of one of Insomnia's biggest art papers.

When it started to sink in, a grin stretched across his lips. Nyx pulled Noctis up off the couch and into his arms, spinning the artist around with a bubbly laugh. 

"You did it, baby!" Nyx exclaimed, peppering kisses all over Noct's smiling face. "They love it! I told you you could do this!" 

Noctis suppressed his laughter and grabbed Nyx's face, holding him still to press a kiss to his lips. "We did it. Both of us. It's your beautiful body they're falling in love with." 

Nyx, being the smartass he is, recoiled with a very exaggerated look of shock on his face. "You really think I'm beautiful?" Noct halfheartedly punched at his chest, muttering a soft "asshole" before pulling him into a hug and directing them onto the couch, where he ended up in Nyx's lap. 

"I do mean it though, we both did this." He pressed their foreheads together. "It wouldn't have happened if not for you. None of this would have happened if not for you. So... Thank you, for being here with me. For... Being my muse." 

The joking look on Nyx's face softened into something that couldn't be described as anything less than adoration. His hand came up to Noct's cheek, fingertips ghosting over pale skin. 

"My little star... Light of my life. Thank you for choosing me."

**Author's Note:**

> This gave me a stupid amount of trouble. I hope y'all like it!


End file.
